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D.Gray-Man Hallow

Allen Walker (CV: Ayumu Murase) is an exorcist in the Black Order. He, together with some other exorcists, have just arrived home to their new headquarters after a mission in getting an Innocence. Allen is taken into a “meeting” and there he learns the truth about himself and once again his life is changing.

THOUGHTS
This is a continuation from the anime that aired 8 to 10 years ago, from 2006 to 2008. This means the visuals look different, the main characters have new voice actors and for anyone who is new to D.Gray.Man they are literally thrown into something that makes little sense. But for a long-term fan like myself… I cried during the first three episodes. Out of joy. Then I kept crying because GODDAMN WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THIS?

Anyone who has known me for a decent amount of time knows I’m in love with D.Gray-man and without doubt this is affecting my judgement. However, this new season is well made, well-paced (in my opinion, I do know others disagree), and to a huge part a change such as the voice actors wasn’t badly made. There are a few I’ve been questioning because they didn’t do the character justice in my opinion, but I don’t think a new fan wouldn’t have a problem with it. And by new fan I mean those who gave DGM Hallow a chance and likes it enough to read the original work, or got interested because there was a new season. I believe the voices any new fans get used to may give them their own interpretation of a character, just like older fans got theirs from the previous ones.

The reason it took 8 years from the end of DGM to Hallow was that the staff wanted to work closely with Katsura, and I personally say it’s definitely worth it. A lot looks different from the first show, but they are closer to the original work. I feel like the character interpretation from the original work (in the form of animation) also is closer, but the comedy of DGM is missing a bit. Since it’s been a while since I both read and watched DGM, it might just be due to me remember it having more funny moments.

They used the old soundtrack and every time I heard the instrumental version of Tsunaida Te ni Kisu wo I cried (and sang). It felt so nostalgic to hear it while watching Hallow after all these years, while it simultaneously broke my heart. I know, I love this show so much and it does affect my judgement. But unlike seemingly many, I was never disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed in the change of style or colour. The voice actor changes didn’t disappoint me. Nothing was really disappointing and I had very high expectations. Or well, maybe the fact it was just 13 episodes was a bit disappointing, but the thing is… I got a new season. Nothing can take that joy away.

I do love this title, but I won’t suggest watching this if you’ve never watched or read D.Gray-Man because you’re really thrown into the middle of the story and there aren’t many flashbacks to speak of for you to keep up. I also can’t recommend it to everyone (but I want everyone to read and watch everything DGM), but I do suggest picking up D.Gray-Man if you like dark fantasy or gothic fantasy. I will reread the original work before beginning on the post-hiatus material of it, so I think I’ll take the opportunity to review the original comic as well, so please look forward to that.

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